for Cursed Be this Soul (that Ties Us Together)6/23 c9 Guest
Hermione and Teddy believe they are successfully disguising themselves, but I’d love for everyone to know she is a witch and soulmates with Ned. Muggles don’t see wizards/witches back home even when directly confronted with magic because they want to rationalize/don’t think magic is a thing at all except in fairy stories, but that’s not the case in the superstitious North of Westeros that believes in magic. Big time curse signs I see so far (on the level of Jenny of Oldstones for the Targaryens): two male Northern-looking bastards to a rich beautiful foreign lady from a super honorable Ned, married to an awful Southern lady that obviously cheated on him with Bran at least (so damaged the Stark line and maybe destroyed the Stark line if suspicion falls on Robb’s parentage due to non-Stark looks like the Strong boys in House of the Dragon), Ned looks pretty suffering heavily without Hermione for decades and perks right up when she arrives back (which is big soul mate clue), Ned’s family being killed horribly (father, brother, sister) around the time of their meeting two decades ago, Hermione arrives back in Westeros for the curse to swing into action to have Ned beheaded publicly for treason/kill his household/kill his king, his lady wife plotting to kill the king/kill her husband/hiding out in a brothel with the maester of coin bankrupting the realm. Lol, I see the White Walkers/Others return will be placed on Hermione/Ned as well here.
I do think the Northern lords would try to separate Ned/Hermione as soulmates if they had just met each other that month, but they have two kids together so...it’s way too late now per the soul mate lore? Of course, Karstark considers himself close Stark kin (well, he is as close as everyone in the North, really, but he sees himself as close enough to get sucked into the soul mate curse as a Stark cadet branch...which is why he is not a Hermione fan here and would totally blame his sons’ death in the original timeline on Hermione/Ned). Hermione, the soul mate, was not around for decades but Catelyn tormented Ned, damaged the Stark line with Bran, plotted to kill the king, etc. with her thousands of miles away, so I can see a majority of the lords being...well, the curse has struck, can’t stop it now, let them be together (like, Jenny of Oldstones was tried to be stopped with the crown prince at first, but then the she was accepted at court). Man, I can see everyone thinking Hermione went away to "Valyria" (lol, Teddy’s imagination) as her trying to stay hidden from Ned/prevent the soulmate curse from activating even worse (perhaps seeing some worrying curse intensifying signs before she fled his arrival). I mean, obviously, the soul mate curse drug Hermione thousands of miles from her realm to King’s Landing so she could die horribly with Ned (as all soul mates do per the lore) except Hermione’s powerful magic was enough to stop the unhappy ending. Now cue the grumpy soul mate curse plotting something else to destroy Ned/Hermione...like the White Walkers.
Hermione and Teddy believe they are successfully disguising themselves, but I’d love for everyone to know she is a witch and soulmates with Ned. Muggles don’t see wizards/witches back home even when directly confronted with magic because they want to rationalize/don’t think magic is a thing at all except in fairy stories, but that’s not the case in the superstitious North of Westeros that believes in magic. Big time curse signs I see so far (on the level of Jenny of Oldstones for the Targaryens): two male Northern-looking bastards to a rich beautiful foreign lady from a super honorable Ned, married to an awful Southern lady that obviously cheated on him with Bran at least (so damaged the Stark line and maybe destroyed the Stark line if suspicion falls on Robb’s parentage due to non-Stark looks like the Strong boys in House of the Dragon), Ned looks pretty suffering heavily without Hermione for decades and perks right up when she arrives back (which is big soul mate clue), Ned’s family being killed horribly (father, brother, sister) around the time of their meeting two decades ago, Hermione arrives back in Westeros for the curse to swing into action to have Ned beheaded publicly for treason/kill his household/kill his king, his lady wife plotting to kill the king/kill her husband/hiding out in a brothel with the maester of coin bankrupting the realm. Lol, I see the White Walkers/Others return will be placed on Hermione/Ned as well here.
I do think the Northern lords would try to separate Ned/Hermione as soulmates if they had just met each other that month, but they have two kids together so...it’s way too late now per the soul mate lore? Of course, Karstark considers himself close Stark kin (well, he is as close as everyone in the North, really, but he sees himself as close enough to get sucked into the soul mate curse as a Stark cadet branch...which is why he is not a Hermione fan here and would totally blame his sons’ death in the original timeline on Hermione/Ned). Hermione, the soul mate, was not around for decades but Catelyn tormented Ned, damaged the Stark line with Bran, plotted to kill the king, etc. with her thousands of miles away, so I can see a majority of the lords being...well, the curse has struck, can’t stop it now, let them be together (like, Jenny of Oldstones was tried to be stopped with the crown prince at first, but then the she was accepted at court). Man, I can see everyone thinking Hermione went away to "Valyria" (lol, Teddy’s imagination) as her trying to stay hidden from Ned/prevent the soulmate curse from activating even worse (perhaps seeing some worrying curse intensifying signs before she fled his arrival). I mean, obviously, the soul mate curse drug Hermione thousands of miles from her realm to King’s Landing so she could die horribly with Ned (as all soul mates do per the lore) except Hermione’s powerful magic was enough to stop the unhappy ending. Now cue the grumpy soul mate curse plotting something else to destroy Ned/Hermione...like the White Walkers.
6/14 c1 apollonia
Feeling sorry for Hermione having a soul mate that thinks they are curse marks. I hope they can be together despite the bad reputation of soul marks in Westeros.
The Targaryen royals seem like a family to have been hit hard by soul marks or curse marks multiple times in Westerosi history. Valyrian culture probably does not see soul marks as a bad thing because of the ability to have multiple spouses (so soul mates did not stop political alliance marriages) and prominence of magic users with psychic bonds to dragons in society (so understanding of the magic behind the marks). The Targaryens were okay with brother/sister marriages and having the very explicit Red Keep tapestries (until the Hightowers took them down) when that wasn’t a thing for the rest of Westeros culturally, so soul mates being a good thing/not a curse and not to be hidden might fit under that.
Viserys the First from House of the Dragon appears to be a good candidate to get slapped with the curse mark folklore and cause horror at soul mates in Westeros among nobles. So, Viserys and his first wife (Aemma) being known soul mates (which Viserys would not hide like the Targaryens don’t hide brother/sister marriages)...Viserys “killed” his soul mate with constant births to get a male heir (that died in a day), kept a female heir to the realm from his soul mate against all advice (which led to the Dance of the Dragons) versus the normal male heir, ignored his soul mate’s child issues (Strong sons), had a rotting disease that made him a slowly rotting corpse for decades (obviously part of the soul mark curse according to the Westerosi but some random accident infection like Greyscale per Hermione), could not really love his second wife due to pining for Aemma (and he would not have married the second wife except for pressure from Westerosi nobles to marry again for dynastic reasons), laid the groundwork for the death of the Targaryen dragons, caused the realm and numerous family members to burn in the Dance of Dragons, etc. However, Viserys being a normal Valyrian dragon rider of a middling family pre-Doom wouldn’t have the pressures/issues of a Westerosi royal and could have lived happily ever after with his long-living soul mate and playing with his giant Valyria model without making hard choices/causing a disaster. Likewise, Ned being a normal muggle or wizard in Hermione's home world would not cause a curse to be with a soul mate, but here as the Warden of the North/Head of House Stark... So, I’d say it was Westeros noble culture that is the toxic curse and not soul mates.
Feeling sorry for Hermione having a soul mate that thinks they are curse marks. I hope they can be together despite the bad reputation of soul marks in Westeros.
The Targaryen royals seem like a family to have been hit hard by soul marks or curse marks multiple times in Westerosi history. Valyrian culture probably does not see soul marks as a bad thing because of the ability to have multiple spouses (so soul mates did not stop political alliance marriages) and prominence of magic users with psychic bonds to dragons in society (so understanding of the magic behind the marks). The Targaryens were okay with brother/sister marriages and having the very explicit Red Keep tapestries (until the Hightowers took them down) when that wasn’t a thing for the rest of Westeros culturally, so soul mates being a good thing/not a curse and not to be hidden might fit under that.
Viserys the First from House of the Dragon appears to be a good candidate to get slapped with the curse mark folklore and cause horror at soul mates in Westeros among nobles. So, Viserys and his first wife (Aemma) being known soul mates (which Viserys would not hide like the Targaryens don’t hide brother/sister marriages)...Viserys “killed” his soul mate with constant births to get a male heir (that died in a day), kept a female heir to the realm from his soul mate against all advice (which led to the Dance of the Dragons) versus the normal male heir, ignored his soul mate’s child issues (Strong sons), had a rotting disease that made him a slowly rotting corpse for decades (obviously part of the soul mark curse according to the Westerosi but some random accident infection like Greyscale per Hermione), could not really love his second wife due to pining for Aemma (and he would not have married the second wife except for pressure from Westerosi nobles to marry again for dynastic reasons), laid the groundwork for the death of the Targaryen dragons, caused the realm and numerous family members to burn in the Dance of Dragons, etc. However, Viserys being a normal Valyrian dragon rider of a middling family pre-Doom wouldn’t have the pressures/issues of a Westerosi royal and could have lived happily ever after with his long-living soul mate and playing with his giant Valyria model without making hard choices/causing a disaster. Likewise, Ned being a normal muggle or wizard in Hermione's home world would not cause a curse to be with a soul mate, but here as the Warden of the North/Head of House Stark... So, I’d say it was Westeros noble culture that is the toxic curse and not soul mates.
6/8 c4 apollonia
Poor Lady Granger spending weeks of research in the Red Keep library when she should have asked a village bard about soul mates. Has folklore or bard stories been written down and studied in Westeros yet because The Tales of Beedle the Bard was fifteenth century (even if earlier versions of the stories were floating around). The maesters seem to look down on smallfolk tales and legends or leave that to bards and nursemaids, so a maester might add a soul mate footnote to a random book on a region, king, or war but not have a separate book on soul mates. That means Lady Granger must dig through a mountain of books for footnotes on curse marks to cobble together a poor understanding of the Westerosi subject (which seems to have happened here). Or, Lady Sansa could say something (oh, that maester has the story wrong!) that makes Lady Granger realize that she has a soul mate subject matter expert on hand. Sansa loves all the romantic songs and stories, which involve soul mates often, like Jenny of Oldstones. Lol, Ned thinking Lady Granger is bonding with his children over bedtime stories/taking her place as their new mother when she is trying to find a way back to Earth.
Poor Lady Granger spending weeks of research in the Red Keep library when she should have asked a village bard about soul mates. Has folklore or bard stories been written down and studied in Westeros yet because The Tales of Beedle the Bard was fifteenth century (even if earlier versions of the stories were floating around). The maesters seem to look down on smallfolk tales and legends or leave that to bards and nursemaids, so a maester might add a soul mate footnote to a random book on a region, king, or war but not have a separate book on soul mates. That means Lady Granger must dig through a mountain of books for footnotes on curse marks to cobble together a poor understanding of the Westerosi subject (which seems to have happened here). Or, Lady Sansa could say something (oh, that maester has the story wrong!) that makes Lady Granger realize that she has a soul mate subject matter expert on hand. Sansa loves all the romantic songs and stories, which involve soul mates often, like Jenny of Oldstones. Lol, Ned thinking Lady Granger is bonding with his children over bedtime stories/taking her place as their new mother when she is trying to find a way back to Earth.
52/17 c10 Androm97
Lol, Teddy spills the beans on Lady Granger here! Frequent dungeon visits do make her seem dangerous. I don't think Teddy told Hermione back at Winterfell that he told the Tyrells she was not an innocent, adorable lady, so Hermione is going to Highgarden thinking her lady disguise still works. This could be funny.
If you want an academic research reason to visit the Eyrie of Ned's childhood and avoid the soul mark accidental transport across worlds to Eyrie story, Lady Granger could go with researching the story of the Winged Knight. The Winged Knight appears to be the King Arthur of the Andals, flew on a giant falcon, married one of the Children Forest, and was friendly with giants and merlings. Per Sansa telling Robin bedtime stories, there are hundreds of stories about the Winged Knight and he is an Andal cultural hero like King Arthur (but was originally a First Men cultural hero). Teenage Lady Granger lands in a random village in Westeros, asks about magic, and smallfolk would have magical stories about the Winged Knight to tell her and could point her to his homeplace at the Eyrie. Now, the Winged Knight is a legendary figure from thousands of years ago or never existed, but smallfolk are not the most reliable source of dates or if something is a real figure or myth. Therefore, Lady Granger goes to the Eyrie (probably flying there on a magical creature), meets a startled Ned Stark sneaking into the Eyrie from a balcony window in an isolated spot, and Ned must hide Lady Granger from Lord Arryn’s court with her flying creature transport/innocence to the ways of Westeros. King Aerys catching a hint of a non-dragon riding culture able to fly around his realm would have been bad for Lady Granger due to his paranoia. Lord Arryn would feel obligated to report Lady Granger’s existence to King Aerys if the news of her arrival came out, so Ned had to hide her and protect her while at the Eyrie doing her academic Winged Knight research. Cue Ned stashing Hermione in his bedroom in a trunk, under the bed, on the balcony, etc. when Robert wanders by and hears them laughing incidents.
So, the Winged Knight as King Arthur of the Andals means every smallfolk village has a different version of the hundreds of Winged Knight stories and every version may be equally “correct” academically. Lady Granger can ask Mace Tyrell about the Winged Knight and receive one version of his legend, Loras Tyrell might have another of the Winged Knight legend (from his local nurse maid’s village perhaps or a childhood maester from another part of the Reach), Prince Renly has his version of Winged Knight stories from Storm’s End, random smallfolk servant at Winterfell has their version, etc. and all are good for Hermione to research the "magical truth" of the Winged Knight.
Lady Granger could use her research into a bedtime story to make her seem adorable and harmless to the lords and ladies of Westeros and give her an explanation of wandering around and talking to all sorts of people and going to all sorts of places. Of course, you would want to know the stories and legends of the realm you were planning to invade if you were a foreign military, which might set off King Robert. A foreign military knowing local themes and stories to endear the smallfolk to them is bad news, like Aegon the Conqueror probably was doing something like that at the time of the Conquest. Lady Granger probably is actually interested in the Winged Knight academically, as she did see how Ron Weasley knew about the Deathly Hallows as a child’s bedtime story/it helped her in the horcrux quest with Harry but she did not as a muggleborn new to the wizarding world. This is a research project the Starklings could help with easily, especially Sansa that loves and collects stories.
Lol, Teddy spills the beans on Lady Granger here! Frequent dungeon visits do make her seem dangerous. I don't think Teddy told Hermione back at Winterfell that he told the Tyrells she was not an innocent, adorable lady, so Hermione is going to Highgarden thinking her lady disguise still works. This could be funny.
If you want an academic research reason to visit the Eyrie of Ned's childhood and avoid the soul mark accidental transport across worlds to Eyrie story, Lady Granger could go with researching the story of the Winged Knight. The Winged Knight appears to be the King Arthur of the Andals, flew on a giant falcon, married one of the Children Forest, and was friendly with giants and merlings. Per Sansa telling Robin bedtime stories, there are hundreds of stories about the Winged Knight and he is an Andal cultural hero like King Arthur (but was originally a First Men cultural hero). Teenage Lady Granger lands in a random village in Westeros, asks about magic, and smallfolk would have magical stories about the Winged Knight to tell her and could point her to his homeplace at the Eyrie. Now, the Winged Knight is a legendary figure from thousands of years ago or never existed, but smallfolk are not the most reliable source of dates or if something is a real figure or myth. Therefore, Lady Granger goes to the Eyrie (probably flying there on a magical creature), meets a startled Ned Stark sneaking into the Eyrie from a balcony window in an isolated spot, and Ned must hide Lady Granger from Lord Arryn’s court with her flying creature transport/innocence to the ways of Westeros. King Aerys catching a hint of a non-dragon riding culture able to fly around his realm would have been bad for Lady Granger due to his paranoia. Lord Arryn would feel obligated to report Lady Granger’s existence to King Aerys if the news of her arrival came out, so Ned had to hide her and protect her while at the Eyrie doing her academic Winged Knight research. Cue Ned stashing Hermione in his bedroom in a trunk, under the bed, on the balcony, etc. when Robert wanders by and hears them laughing incidents.
So, the Winged Knight as King Arthur of the Andals means every smallfolk village has a different version of the hundreds of Winged Knight stories and every version may be equally “correct” academically. Lady Granger can ask Mace Tyrell about the Winged Knight and receive one version of his legend, Loras Tyrell might have another of the Winged Knight legend (from his local nurse maid’s village perhaps or a childhood maester from another part of the Reach), Prince Renly has his version of Winged Knight stories from Storm’s End, random smallfolk servant at Winterfell has their version, etc. and all are good for Hermione to research the "magical truth" of the Winged Knight.
Lady Granger could use her research into a bedtime story to make her seem adorable and harmless to the lords and ladies of Westeros and give her an explanation of wandering around and talking to all sorts of people and going to all sorts of places. Of course, you would want to know the stories and legends of the realm you were planning to invade if you were a foreign military, which might set off King Robert. A foreign military knowing local themes and stories to endear the smallfolk to them is bad news, like Aegon the Conqueror probably was doing something like that at the time of the Conquest. Lady Granger probably is actually interested in the Winged Knight academically, as she did see how Ron Weasley knew about the Deathly Hallows as a child’s bedtime story/it helped her in the horcrux quest with Harry but she did not as a muggleborn new to the wizarding world. This is a research project the Starklings could help with easily, especially Sansa that loves and collects stories.
9/13/2023 c10 darth-sakura
Very much enjoyed reading this! Hoping you plan to continue in the future!
Very much enjoyed reading this! Hoping you plan to continue in the future!
7/22/2023 c9 Ava935
Please do not ever let the truth come out of Jon's real parents. The lie is bad, but he's finally so happy and he deserves to be happy. My heart breaks for Jon.
Please do not ever let the truth come out of Jon's real parents. The lie is bad, but he's finally so happy and he deserves to be happy. My heart breaks for Jon.
7/13/2023 c1 colbytkirk
I absolutely love this story and i wish you completed it. We need more ned stories. Love himhermione
I absolutely love this story and i wish you completed it. We need more ned stories. Love himhermione
6/27/2023 c9 anne36
I love the “Thy Good Neighbor” by blahh vibes for this story. Hermione and Teddy as newcomers to Westeros and making waves without knowing how big those waves are/thinking they are blending into the world. Manderly is definitely having a chapter seven of “Thy Good Neighbor” discussion with his closest friends/advisors/noble allies about Lady Granger’s mysterious motives/background, Teddy’s quick return from Highgarden, Ned’s sudden disappearance to Highgarden without an escort/vanishing into thin air, etc. I can so see Hermione or Teddy doing simple but extravagant in Westeros things like in “Thy Good Neighbor,” like using salt to melt ice on a walkway, having porcelain plates for tea, suddenly traveling with impossible travel times, having an amount/quality of goods that cannot be explained away, etc. Would be interested in the right or wrong conclusions the nobles draw of what is going on with the Starks right now.
Enjoyed Hermione’s introduction to the Northern nobles. Hope she has smooth sailing in the North, but there might be trouble for Lady Granger like for Queen Sansa in “Of Ribbons and Barbarians” by SainTalia. However, Sansa at least knew she was Queen of the North/trying to cement her powers in the North, but here Hermione is hanging out in her friend Ned’s house and planning to escape to Earth. “Of Ribbons and Barbarians” is an alternate history where the Targaryens never conquered Westeros, the Starks are still Kings in the North, and King Jon of House Stark and Lady Sansa of House Tully wed due to the North’s desperate famine/House Tully’s intrigue for a Tully Queen. Barb raised Jon/acts like a mother to him in that story and she clashes with Sansa over the Northern court on the female side/a Southerner of the Faith not being the right choice for Queen. So filled with intrigue, culture clashes, royal family politics, noble family schemes, etc. and fun to see Sansa overcoming obstacles/winning over the people of the North. This kind of stuff is what is awaiting Hermione...who doesn’t even know she is taking the Lady of Winterfell slot yet and has hundreds of nobles watching her every move/making plots around her presence.
I am looking forward to Teddy explaining how the wizarding world/his home realm chooses a ruler, especially if he goes for the International Confederation of Wizards choosing the Supreme Mugwump. Teddy talks about the “Walk of the Qillin” ceremony (magical deer capable of seeing the future and bowing to the candidate with the purest soul) from Fantastic Beasts. Baratheons might like this selection somewhat since his house sigil is a deer? And, Westeroi had in House of the Dragon seeing a white stag as a symbol of the right to rule by Aegon II/Rhaenyra? Renly talking about who should be king, why eldest son, and why not him and Teddy answers with this strange way of choosing a ruler. Course, that knowledge really does seem to tie down Teddy’s home country and was something a maester would know about to advise Kings, Lord Paramonts, upper-level nobles.
Did King Robert try to knight Teddy at Highgarden because that would be hilarious? Teddy does not want the knighthood honor/thinks he needs to pass a certain level of sword skill with Lord Renly before getting that (which he is a long way from). Knighting by the king is a big deal/not something anyone refuses, but Teddy sidesteps that honor multiple times and Robert is like, “this is odd and has never happened to me.”
Lol, at Hermione handling Old Valyria easily and staying there several weeks without any issues/thinking Teddy would like to see it. Hogwarts is a death trap where Hermione had exposure to dangerous things from day one (Forbidden Forest, Moving Stairs, Potion Explosions from Neville, Any Animal Hagrid Liked, Defense against Dark Arts Teacher a Voldemort minion, etc.) as a first year. Old Valyria seems able to be tamed by Hermione with a few spells and not terribly awful in comparison to other places she has explored on her world travels to research magic. Old Valyria seems like a good place for Hermione to establish a research base without encroaching on owned territories/having to deal with neighbors. Hermione looking at Old Valyria’s dangers, agreeing it had some issues, but not finding it all that awful in comparison to other places she had been/building a research base would be hilarious. Teddy smiling at all the horrors of the Doom and oohing and aahing over terrible dangers/thinking how he dealt with that at Hogwarts every day while the Westerosi are staring at him wide-eyed. A Doom house would put Hermione outside the world’s politics/ensure she does not get any visitors and confuse/freak out everyone that where she comes from has more scary things/death traps than the Doom. Random maester/noble on hearing the news: “You’ve decided to live in the Doom? It’s not that bad? It’s rather peaceful? There’s nothing very dangerous in it?”
Lol, Teddy thinking about wanting to do something to earn money and not rely on Renly’s allowance. Meanwhile, Renly is thinking of a way to get a huge loan for the crown from Lady Granger due to the poor royal finances. Nobles at King Robert’s court certainly may have dresses on the level of Hermione. Thinking of Sansa’s bridal gown description in the book or a gown to wear to the coronation/royal wedding/petition from a Lord Paramont house wanting to show off like in House of the Dragon. However, a new version of that level of opulence is not trotted out multiple times a day to lounge around reading books. Hermione probably has to re-transfigure her wardrobe/make changes every few days/week so it does not go back to the starting state, so it looks like she has literally hundreds of different jewel encrusted dresses (which would not matter if she was a nobody reading in her room all day, perhaps, but Varys or Baelish is keeping track of her dresses from servants just to upset Cersei over her poor wardrobe). Hermione slyly doing the duplication charm on fancy golden or porcelain plates/cups in the royal household, doing a little alteration spell to look foreign, and having her own large table service fancier than the royal one (that needs to be redone every few days to stop it from disappearing). It’s awkward to ask for a giant loan to support the realm after only knowing each other for a few days and not wanting to show the realm is poor/in trouble to foreigners, but I believe that might have been an ask of Lady Granger soon by Renly if she had not disappeared within a month. Maybe Renly was planning on getting Ned to ask for monetary help from Lady Granger? Yeah, Renly treated Teddy and Hermione nicely and he does like the Starks but the realm is in deep financial trouble and the Tyrells won’t pony up to pay the bill unless Marg is Queen so...
My headcannon is that Hermione is walking around with new batches of dresses covered in flawless, brilliant, flashing transfigured stones every single day as the old ones lose shape due to wanning transfiguration after less than a week or so. Cersei would freak out and want to eliminate Hermione over that. The Velaryons were wealthier than the Lannisters after a trip or two to Yi Ti with trade goods a couple hundred years ago, so a noble from that Jade Sea region eclipsing the Lannisters in wealth/fashion is explainable and worrying to Lannister power. Yes, the Lannisters are the richest family in the Seven Kingdoms now, but that was not always the case. So would Catelyn freak out, as Hermione has a new high lady dowry worth of jewels on her every single day or multiple times a day and that is enough to tempt even an honorable man like Ned Stark. Which explains the numerous Baratheon guards outside Hermione’s door since she obviously has more moveable wealth than the Westerosi royal treasury (which is very empty right now so not that big a deal) or dozens of high noble families from Essos have in the Iron Bank or maybe even the Lannisters in her humble dress trunk for casual, everyday wear. Only problem is, all that "wealth" is transfigured material that returns to normal in a few days/week so...everything is not as it seems.
I love the “Thy Good Neighbor” by blahh vibes for this story. Hermione and Teddy as newcomers to Westeros and making waves without knowing how big those waves are/thinking they are blending into the world. Manderly is definitely having a chapter seven of “Thy Good Neighbor” discussion with his closest friends/advisors/noble allies about Lady Granger’s mysterious motives/background, Teddy’s quick return from Highgarden, Ned’s sudden disappearance to Highgarden without an escort/vanishing into thin air, etc. I can so see Hermione or Teddy doing simple but extravagant in Westeros things like in “Thy Good Neighbor,” like using salt to melt ice on a walkway, having porcelain plates for tea, suddenly traveling with impossible travel times, having an amount/quality of goods that cannot be explained away, etc. Would be interested in the right or wrong conclusions the nobles draw of what is going on with the Starks right now.
Enjoyed Hermione’s introduction to the Northern nobles. Hope she has smooth sailing in the North, but there might be trouble for Lady Granger like for Queen Sansa in “Of Ribbons and Barbarians” by SainTalia. However, Sansa at least knew she was Queen of the North/trying to cement her powers in the North, but here Hermione is hanging out in her friend Ned’s house and planning to escape to Earth. “Of Ribbons and Barbarians” is an alternate history where the Targaryens never conquered Westeros, the Starks are still Kings in the North, and King Jon of House Stark and Lady Sansa of House Tully wed due to the North’s desperate famine/House Tully’s intrigue for a Tully Queen. Barb raised Jon/acts like a mother to him in that story and she clashes with Sansa over the Northern court on the female side/a Southerner of the Faith not being the right choice for Queen. So filled with intrigue, culture clashes, royal family politics, noble family schemes, etc. and fun to see Sansa overcoming obstacles/winning over the people of the North. This kind of stuff is what is awaiting Hermione...who doesn’t even know she is taking the Lady of Winterfell slot yet and has hundreds of nobles watching her every move/making plots around her presence.
I am looking forward to Teddy explaining how the wizarding world/his home realm chooses a ruler, especially if he goes for the International Confederation of Wizards choosing the Supreme Mugwump. Teddy talks about the “Walk of the Qillin” ceremony (magical deer capable of seeing the future and bowing to the candidate with the purest soul) from Fantastic Beasts. Baratheons might like this selection somewhat since his house sigil is a deer? And, Westeroi had in House of the Dragon seeing a white stag as a symbol of the right to rule by Aegon II/Rhaenyra? Renly talking about who should be king, why eldest son, and why not him and Teddy answers with this strange way of choosing a ruler. Course, that knowledge really does seem to tie down Teddy’s home country and was something a maester would know about to advise Kings, Lord Paramonts, upper-level nobles.
Did King Robert try to knight Teddy at Highgarden because that would be hilarious? Teddy does not want the knighthood honor/thinks he needs to pass a certain level of sword skill with Lord Renly before getting that (which he is a long way from). Knighting by the king is a big deal/not something anyone refuses, but Teddy sidesteps that honor multiple times and Robert is like, “this is odd and has never happened to me.”
Lol, at Hermione handling Old Valyria easily and staying there several weeks without any issues/thinking Teddy would like to see it. Hogwarts is a death trap where Hermione had exposure to dangerous things from day one (Forbidden Forest, Moving Stairs, Potion Explosions from Neville, Any Animal Hagrid Liked, Defense against Dark Arts Teacher a Voldemort minion, etc.) as a first year. Old Valyria seems able to be tamed by Hermione with a few spells and not terribly awful in comparison to other places she has explored on her world travels to research magic. Old Valyria seems like a good place for Hermione to establish a research base without encroaching on owned territories/having to deal with neighbors. Hermione looking at Old Valyria’s dangers, agreeing it had some issues, but not finding it all that awful in comparison to other places she had been/building a research base would be hilarious. Teddy smiling at all the horrors of the Doom and oohing and aahing over terrible dangers/thinking how he dealt with that at Hogwarts every day while the Westerosi are staring at him wide-eyed. A Doom house would put Hermione outside the world’s politics/ensure she does not get any visitors and confuse/freak out everyone that where she comes from has more scary things/death traps than the Doom. Random maester/noble on hearing the news: “You’ve decided to live in the Doom? It’s not that bad? It’s rather peaceful? There’s nothing very dangerous in it?”
Lol, Teddy thinking about wanting to do something to earn money and not rely on Renly’s allowance. Meanwhile, Renly is thinking of a way to get a huge loan for the crown from Lady Granger due to the poor royal finances. Nobles at King Robert’s court certainly may have dresses on the level of Hermione. Thinking of Sansa’s bridal gown description in the book or a gown to wear to the coronation/royal wedding/petition from a Lord Paramont house wanting to show off like in House of the Dragon. However, a new version of that level of opulence is not trotted out multiple times a day to lounge around reading books. Hermione probably has to re-transfigure her wardrobe/make changes every few days/week so it does not go back to the starting state, so it looks like she has literally hundreds of different jewel encrusted dresses (which would not matter if she was a nobody reading in her room all day, perhaps, but Varys or Baelish is keeping track of her dresses from servants just to upset Cersei over her poor wardrobe). Hermione slyly doing the duplication charm on fancy golden or porcelain plates/cups in the royal household, doing a little alteration spell to look foreign, and having her own large table service fancier than the royal one (that needs to be redone every few days to stop it from disappearing). It’s awkward to ask for a giant loan to support the realm after only knowing each other for a few days and not wanting to show the realm is poor/in trouble to foreigners, but I believe that might have been an ask of Lady Granger soon by Renly if she had not disappeared within a month. Maybe Renly was planning on getting Ned to ask for monetary help from Lady Granger? Yeah, Renly treated Teddy and Hermione nicely and he does like the Starks but the realm is in deep financial trouble and the Tyrells won’t pony up to pay the bill unless Marg is Queen so...
My headcannon is that Hermione is walking around with new batches of dresses covered in flawless, brilliant, flashing transfigured stones every single day as the old ones lose shape due to wanning transfiguration after less than a week or so. Cersei would freak out and want to eliminate Hermione over that. The Velaryons were wealthier than the Lannisters after a trip or two to Yi Ti with trade goods a couple hundred years ago, so a noble from that Jade Sea region eclipsing the Lannisters in wealth/fashion is explainable and worrying to Lannister power. Yes, the Lannisters are the richest family in the Seven Kingdoms now, but that was not always the case. So would Catelyn freak out, as Hermione has a new high lady dowry worth of jewels on her every single day or multiple times a day and that is enough to tempt even an honorable man like Ned Stark. Which explains the numerous Baratheon guards outside Hermione’s door since she obviously has more moveable wealth than the Westerosi royal treasury (which is very empty right now so not that big a deal) or dozens of high noble families from Essos have in the Iron Bank or maybe even the Lannisters in her humble dress trunk for casual, everyday wear. Only problem is, all that "wealth" is transfigured material that returns to normal in a few days/week so...everything is not as it seems.